BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A new safety syringe that can save lives is coming soon to a hospital near you. And one U.S. Marine combat veteran who became a nurse after wounded in Vietnam couldn't be happier.

The newly patented safety syringe from Protectus Medical Devices, Inc. (OTCQB: PTMD) will be the first to protect on-the-go healthcare workers from sometimes deadly needlestick accidents that occur all too frequently when giving injections.

And it does it automatically!

"The Protectus Automatic Self-sheathing Safety Syringe will be to nurses what seat belts and air bags are to motorists," said former Marine Marc Barbanell who has been taking the syringe on test drives and finding it incredibly safe. "Even when patients jerk their arm during an injection and send the syringe flying, it can't hurt anyone," said Barbanell, a Silver Star recipient who has since given thousands of injections to private patients.

"If a nurse were to lose control of this syringe or have it knocked out of her hands, she'd automatically be protected as a spring-activated plastic sheath instantly covers the needle, rendering it harmless and incapable of sticking anyone accidentally.

According to most recent statistics, nearly a million needlestick injuries are reported annually among U.S. healthcare workers costing healthcare system over $3 billion a year.

Workers at U.S. hospitals on average incur approximately 30 needlestick injuries per 100 beds annually. Studies show nurses sustain most of these injuries and one in seven U.S. healthcare workers is accidentally stuck by a contaminated sharp every year, while it is believed only one in three needlesticks is even reported.

From these sharps injuries there have been scores of documented cases of HIV seroconversion among healthcare personnel and 2,000 workers a year become infected with hepatitis C, and 400 contract hepatitis B. More than 20 additional types of infectious agents have been transmitted through needlesticks, including tuberculosis, syphilis, malaria, herpes, diphtheria, gonorrhea, typhus, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

The CDC estimates more than 80 percent of needlestick injuries can be prevented by the use of safer medical devices, such as the Protectus syringe. Needlesticks occur most in fast-paced, stressful and often understaffed facilities.

CONTACT: JP HERVIS, TransMedia Group, 561-750-9800 X217

SOURCE TransMedia Group